This invention generally pertains to lamps having a base which supports a light source such as a candle and having a transparent or translucent chimney which is also supported on the base in surrounding relationship with the light source. One such lamp is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,241,698 issued to Brady. This lamp includes a base which provides a candle socket and a conventional glass chimney seated on the base.
The use of a modified glass bottle as a chimney for a lamp of the type disclosed herein is old and well-known. One such bottle chimney is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,195 issued to Duncan. A bottle chimney may have its closed lower end removed so that the bottle can be placed over the light source in the manner of a conventional open-bottomed chimney.
The use of discarded glass beverage containers for spirits, wine, beer, soda and the like as the chimney component of a lamp has been enthusiastically accepted by hobbyists, craftpersons and environmentalists; however, fabrication of such bottle chimneys remains a problem. Most hobbyists and craftpersons do not have the proper equipment and expertise to score and break away a portion of a brittle glass bottle without risk of uneven severence of the glass or of shattering the glass with attendant risk of personal injury.
Since effective scoring of a cylindrical glass surface by free hand means is difficult, if not impossible, prior art apparatus for scoring and parting hollow glass articles such as bottles and tubes commonly employ a mechanical fixture for positioning and guiding a cutter wheel relative to the article to be cut. Examples of such apparatus used specifically to sever bottles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,564 to Fleming; U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,359 to Gelfman; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,692 to Doyel. Each of these prior art devices is mechanically complex and is, therefore, expensive to manufacture. Moreover, use of these devices requires levels of know-how and manipulative skills beyond those possessed by most hobbyists and non-commercial craftpersons. Furthermore, if a bottle cutting apparatus is used infrequently for fabricating only a limited number of bottle chimneys, purchase of such expensive apparatus would not be economically justifiable. Therefore, in order to meet the minimal requirements as an acceptable hobby or craft-type cutting device for bottle chimneys, the device should be of low cost, easy to operate and otherwise well adapted for casual users of such a device.
It is also essential that a glass cutting device of this desired character be able to perform these additional operations as do its more complex and costly prior art counterparts, namely:
1. Provide a fixture-like support for the bottle as it is rotated against a cutter wheel; PA1 2. Provide for scoring a bottle at selectable locations along the length of the bottle; and, PA1 3. Display angular adjustability of the cutter so that curved and sloped bottle surfaces can be incised at right angles.
The aforenoted prior art devices fail to recognize the desirability of a bottle cutter compact enough to be included in a prepackaged assemblage which could be sold to crafters as a complete, off-the-shelf kit for fabricating bottle lamps. While a relatively small conventional glass cutter of the type used to score flat glass could be included in such a kit, these handheld cutters, as noted above, are not practical for scoring the external wall of a typical beverage bottle.
The prior art altogether fails to appreciate the advantages of a multi-purpose bottle lamp base, according to this invention, which is effective for scoring and parting glass bottles of various shapes, for supporting bottle chimneys of various sizes and for housing various light sources.